Drone will be South Tyneside's secret weapon in the sky to tackle bike yobs, fly-tipping and coastal threats

At a recent meeting of the council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee, councillors heard the local authority was using a drone as an ‘eye in the sky’ to support action on anti-social motorbike issues.

The discussion at South Shields Town Hall centred around the use of drone technology to support Northumbria Police in tackling motorcycle-related anti-social behaviour.

Some councils, including Sunderland City Council, have already seen the benefits of using drones to tackle motorbike disorder issues and environmental crime, including fly-tipping offences.

Town hall bosses in South Tyneside stressed they are learning from other councils and are now conducting a pilot with a new drone, which has been acquired using external funding.

Looking to the future after the pilot concludes, council bosses say drone technology could be used in other ways, from surveying buildings and infrastructure and identifying large scale fly-tipping sites, to monitoring coastal erosion.

Councillor Jane Carter, cabinet member for housing and community safety at South Tyneside Council, said the use of drone technology, while in its early stages, “shows real promise”.

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“The use of drones requires a lot of pre-planning, we are limited to planned operations rather than immediate deployment and very much subject to the weather conditions,” she added.

“However, it does demonstrate how technologies can be thoughtfully integrated into our operations to enhance our enforcement capabilities and environmental monitoring.

“While still in the early stages, the use of drones— particularly in partnership with the police to tackle anti-social behaviour such as illegal motorbike use —shows real promise.

“By securing external funding and training staff alongside their existing roles, we’ve been able to explore this innovative approach in a cost-effective and collaborative way.

“We’re committed to evaluating its impact and learning from other councils to ensure we make the most of this technology in a safe, regulated, and proactive manner.”

The council currently operates a single drone, acquired less than a year ago through external funding.

Although the equipment has been in place for some time, only recently have two staff members obtained their pilot licences, which were achieved alongside their regular duties.

The drone is initially being deployed in partnership with Northumbria Police to support motorcycle-related anti-social behaviour disruption operations in hard-to-reach areas.

Drone use could also benefit work around environmental enforcement and survey work in future, the council has confirmed.

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Drone operations are tightly regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority and local authorities must adhere to strict planning, licensing, and insurance requirements, which means the council’s drone can only be used in proactive, pre-planned operations.

South Tyneside Council is expected to monitor the drone’s impact and will evaluate its effectiveness as part of a broader pilot initiative, which aims to demonstrate how emerging technologies can be integrated into local authority operations.

The council said that feedback from other local authorities suggests that, despite operational challenges, drones can play a role in local government enforcement.

Graeme Littlewood, senior community safety officer at South Tyneside Council, welcomed the use of drone technology to help tackle anti-social motorbike use, and added the technology could be used for “other things”.

Speaking at the Licensing and Regulatory Committee on June 6, 2025, the council officer said: “The drone pilots, it’s a new initiative and it’s very innovative and we will hopefully use the drone for other things as well.

“One of the primary things we will be asking the drone pilots to do is to go to areas which we know are hotspots, put the drone up a few hundred feet and I’m sure you can see they get a more panoramic view.

“In some cases that should help with the pursuit of the bikes, because you don’t need to go chasing after them and hopefully they won’t see the drone in the sky.

“If they live within a radius of where they’re driving on their motorbikes, you might actually see where the bikes are being stored.

“The big thing that makes the difference in terms of the bikes is where are they stored and are people seeing that particular bike being driven in an anti-social behaviour manner in a particular area, and that can be challenging.

“But it is the number one priority in terms of public perceptions, in terms of what people see and what it looks like, it gives that air of lawlessness, and that’s not what we want to see.”